A cholera outbreak in Yemen, which has claimed 1,400 lives in two months, shows tentative signs of slowing as fatality rates drop by half, AFP reported Tuesday (June 27th).
Nearly 219,000 suspected cases have been registered since April 27th and more than 1,400 people have died, the World Health Organisation said.
But fatality rates have dropped from 1.7% in early May to 0.6% now, WHO's senior emergency adviser for Yemen Ahmed Zouiten said.
He attributed the fall to emergency intervention by health workers.
Reported cases of cholera have also dropped in recent days with 39,000 over the past week compared with an average of 41,000 in previous weeks.
But Zouiten cautioned that the decline in numbers might be due to underreporting over the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.
He said the total number of cases could still double before the outbreak ends.
